I had a very frustrating period over Christmas with ebay – trying to buy stuff and getting outbid left, right and centre. Then I got a tip, which I used to good effect (although I can’t tell you what it was because I got threatened with VERY BAD THINGS if I let on the secret)!

Last week, for whatever reason, I was mooching about on ebay. To be honest, I was looking for a supplier of stained glass making equipment – really I just want a mail order one but I couldn’t find one so I hopped over to ebay to see if there was any joy there.

Anyway, while I was logged on, I decided to see if I could find a prop for an idea I’d had for a photo shoot and found just what I wanted – these tiny brass bowls are perfect for what I wanted so I bid and won them for a very small sum of money indeed. They arrived this morning and after a quick polish with good old Brasso, they came up a treat and I took this shot as a ‘proof of principle’ for my idea.

Brass, and indeed all other shiny stuff, I find is a challenge to get it properly lit – no overblown highlights, shiny brass but no reflections of other ‘stuff’ in the shot. You’ve no idea how many times I’ve thought I’ve got a lovely shot, then found I could see the duster I used to polish the brass in the shot, or a coffee cup or whatever. I took quite a few shots before I found my ‘formula’ on this occasion. The set up is pretty complex – two studio lights, a reflector, lots of black velvet then some exposure bracketing to get to this. Not to mention my now well-worn trick of a long exposure with a flash then some tungsten light to give a bit of added warmth to the shot.

Anyway, finally I got a shot that I’m pleased with although not totally delighted – it needed a bigger reflector really but we only own a tiny one about a foot across.

These black cardamoms were bought by mistake really – I’d needed to replace the green ones I’d lost by accidentally leaving behind the contents of my spice cupboard in Sandhurst in the panic of leaving, couldn’t find any but saw these. I bought them thinking I could perhaps substitute but when I got home and looked them up, I discovered they’re not really interchangeable and these have limited use so I expect they’ll find their way into the compost in about five years when I suddenly realise they’re three years out of date unless I can find an appealing recipe that uses them.

Last year, we were at the Royal Cornwall Show - we forgot all about it this year until it was too late - shame!